Taste Test: Hot Chocolate Mixes

It's a tough job, but someone had to do it. Our food editors and few lucky volunteers blindly taste tested store-bought powder cocoa mix. Which were thin and watery and which were just as good as homemade? Read on.

Tasters' Favorite: Godiva Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa

Tasters' Favorite: Godiva Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa

Godiva Chocolatier Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa ($15 for a 13.1 oz. tin, amazon.com) makes for an “authentic,” “classic” cup of sweetness. This contender garnered rave reviews for its “rich and smooth” flavor. Its consistency was “a little thin” when compared with some of the other mixes, but that just made it easier to drink more of it.

Tasters' Favorite: Lake Champlain Old World Drinking Chocolate

Tasters' Favorite: Lake Champlain Old World Drinking Chocolate

Lake Champlain Old World Drinking Chocolate ($13.50 for 9.5 oz., amazon.com) tastes “homemade,” “dark,” and “decadent,” reminding some of “the center of a molten lava cake.” Consisting of shavings of chocolate melted into hot milk, it’s no wonder this hot cocoa “tastes more like melted chocolate than hot cocoa.”